ADVERTISEMENT
A vegan-only cafe will soon open in Formby as sisters Carmel Proctor and Clair McEvilly launch vegan cafe Plant inside the Sports Direct store on Liverpool Road this month.
Despite having successful careers as a child protection lawyer and teacher respectively, sisters Carmel Proctor and Clair McEvilly decided to try going vegan in Lent, and soon found they it was a lifestyle they wanted to stick with.
Speaking to news outlet Southport Visitor, Carmel said: “During this period we learnt more and more about the benefits of a plant based diet for us as individuals, for the animals and for the future of the planet.
“As lent was drawing to an end my nephew announced that he wanted to remain vegan and we all agreed that it was a good life choice for everyone and have been vegan ever since.”
With their new found appreciation for vegan food, the pair decided to open their own vegan cafe in Formby to show how delicious plant-based food really is.
Menu
The owners have spent months preparing the cafe, spending time up-cycling used furniture and perfecting recipes.
Carmel spent time training with the Vegetarian Society Cookery School to prepare for the new role, and the cafe’s food will include vegan versions of chilli, curry, sausage casserole and a range of jacket potatoes. It will also offer a range of freshly prepared juices and smoothies.
All the cakes on sale are also gluten free and Carmel estimates that each recipe has been amended around 15 times to find the desired quality.
“The focus of our food is home cooked healthy food but for those wanting a treat we do have a delicious range of gluten free, dairy free, egg free cakes. These have been a particular challenge for us as once we added the gluten free element to the cakes we found that recopies just didn’t come out as we would like.
“We have therefore spent months fine tuning recipes making cake after cake and altering the ingredients more each time until we have come up with cakes that I would challenge anyone not to like.”
Location
Whilst the cafe will be located inside the Sports Direct store on Liverpool Road, it will be open to all customers, including non-members of Sports Direct.
“When we initially saw the space it had a couple of white plastic table and chairs and was not very inviting. We decided it was important that our customers had someone where they could relax and be comfortable.
“We therefore spent ages sourcing secondhand hand furniture which we have slowly restored and recovered and transformed the look of the area whilst giving a new lease of life to furniture which would otherwise have been thrown away.”
Plant will officially open on December 16, when it will host a special Christmas event for Freshfield Animal Rescue centre. It will then be open Monday-Friday 7.30-18.30 and Saturday 8-3.
